In the course of gardening activities in my home garden near the west side of Gainesville, Fla., about 1980, I harvested a seed pod resulting from the Open Pollination of a dwarf Gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides Ellis). From seed removed from the pod of the parent plant, six plants were obtained. All of the seedlings were later moved to another location in the same general area, and two were observed to bloom in 1991. In the evaluation of the plants as they grew and developed, it became apparent that one plant, the selection which is the subject of this description, strongly departed from the characteristics of the seed parent, and combined a number of characteristics which made it a highly desirable candidate for use as a landscape appointment. The seed parent plant, which is no longer available, was a dwarf, double flowered plant, with small, white, fragrant flowers and small leaves. Flowers were about two to four centimeters in size and leaves were lanceolate and about four centimeters long and one centimeter wide.
The plant here described forms an attractive shrub which can attain a height and spread of about two meters, or more, has much larger foliage than the parent plant, and forms a attractive shrub. This plant has a canopy of medium density, composed of large attractive, deep green leaves. Flowers are attractive, large, single, normally have six, but occasionally seven or eight, white petals, and an alluring fragrance. Upon realizing the novelty and desirable characteristics of this plant, I immediately took steps to preserve and multiply it. With the recognition that this plant has numerous advantageous traits, has very large, perfect flowers, is fertile, and has accessible reproductive organs, it became my intention to employ it as a parent plant in a planned breeding program. With the above noted traits, after further culture and observation, it was noticed that this plant also exhibits resistance to insect infestations, which is a particularly advantageous characteristic in culture of this plant where it is adapted to grow in the open. Finally, this plant is uniquely suited for landscape use due to its vigor and characteristic ability to produce an abundance of large, fragrant, strikingly attractive star-shaped flowers which contrast pleasingly with the lush, deep green foliage. In recognizing the unusual characteristics of this plant, I have denominated it `Star Bright`.
I have asexually reproduced this plant by rooting softwood cuttings in my home garden in the area the west side of Gainesville, Fla. With the observation of approximately fifty clones of this plant, I have concluded that the distinguishing characteristics of clonal offspring are substantially identical to those of the original specimen and conclude that the plant is stable.